Freckles, princesses and dinosaurs
by Vulkis
Summary: ModernAU; Augustus Blake loves three things: his fathers Pancakes, dinosaurs and apparently, Clarke Griffins hands. After Clarke meets little Gus by chance, the two Blakeman and the blonde doctor are drawn to each other. Maybe it's not just for the four year old love at first sight, but when responsibilities, insecurities and trust issues come together, everything gets complicated.
1. I think it's better if you hold my hand

**A/N:** English is not my first language so I'm bound to make ridiculous mistakes. Please feel free to ignore them or point them out if they are really gruesome.

Disclaimer: I don't own anything from the 100.

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Clarke let out a tiny yawn while stretching on one of the uncomfortable hospital chairs. It had been quiet down here at the desk, good enough to complete some overdue paperwork anyway and when she glanced down at the watch that had once been her fathers, she was surprised to learn that her shift had ended almost 15 minutes ago.

She opened the braid that held her hair back and combed it absent mindedly with her fingers. She debated in her head whether to finish the report or call it a night, well afternoon actually, when a noise broke her out of her musings.

A small boy had appeared next to the desk and eyed her curiously. He was four, maybe five years old, with skin in a light olive tone and a mass of dark curls on the head that looked like he had just interrupted his playtime.

"Hello, are you a doctor", he asked cautiously.

Clarke smiled and pointed to her scrubs and white coat.

"Yes, I am. My name is Clarke. Who are you?"

This wasn't new to her. Kids talked to her often while she was at work. Bored or confused with all the hospital stuff, kids took interest in her stethoscope, the white coat or were just drawn to her light and open demeanor.

"That's good. I'm not allowed to talk to strangers. Just doctors and policemen." His voice was still small and high, normal for his age, but there was a note of confidence in it that made her smile even broader.

He came closer to her around the desk, in the sort of ingenious way that was reserved for children and pointed to a hole in his jeans.

"I hurt myself, can you fix me?"

She chuckled at his innocent words, nodded and sat him on the desk, already eying the cuts. It was nothing serious, a bit of disinfection and a large bandage would do the job, no stiching needed.

When she returned to him only moments later with a small kit, his eyes grew suddenly wide.

"I forgot to introduce myself. I'm Augustus Blake. Sorry doctor Clarke." He smiled at her apologetically and for the first time she noticed the warm tone of his chocolate brown eyes.

She couldn't help herself and tousled that mop of curls. This might just be the cutest little boy she ever came across.

"Nice to meet you and you can call me Clarke. Augustus is a really beautiful name", she tried to distract him from the treatment.

"Yeah, my dad gave it to me", he answered seriously.

Clarke beamed, this was for real the cutest boy she ever met.

"That was very nice of him."

His grin grew wider and they both smiled at each other for a few seconds.

When she resumed cleaning the wound she noticed for the first time that his trousers were quite dirty and that there was some sand in the cuts. This didn't look like something he could have gotten while playing in the hospital. Suddenly she felt nervous but tried to keep her tone light and friendly.

"Tell me Augustus, where did you hurt yourself? Was it here in the hospital?"

"No, it was at the playground down the street, in the park. I fell down the monkey bars."

She nodded, the story fitted the wound. When she glanced the corridor up and down, she spotted no concerned parent, just the normal buzz of nurses and patients.

"Where is your mom Augustus?"

"Aunt Tavia said she's with the stars, but my dad told me she died. That means she can't be with me anymore even though she wants to."

Clarkes heart ached when she looked at him but he seemed to be unfazed.

"I'm very sorry to hear that", she said in a quiet voice, watching him fondly.

"It's OK. I can't really remember her and anyways, I have my dad and he is awesome. The best dad in the world."

"So, where's your dad now? "

His smile dropped and for the first time his childish confidence faltered.

"He's still at the playground. I came alone ", his voice trailed away and he looked at his feet.

"You seem like a very smart boy to me", she said genuinely, he looked at her again and his smile reappeared in an instant.

"So why would you do something dangerous like that? I'm sure your dad told you not to wander off alone. Why didn't you asked him to take you here?"

She tried to leave the concern and judgement out of her voice. The kid was obviously already pretty guilty about this.

"I know I wasn't allowed to come alone, but my dad, he was asleep when I fell and I didn't want to wake him. He is always so tired after work, but he took me there anyway because I really wanted to go. And I was sure I could find the hospital cause we parked across the street earlier. I thought I could be back before he notices and he wouldn't need to worry that I fell and he overslept it."

All this came out very fast and his tone became pleadingly.

"Please, we don't need to tell him or he will worry."

Clarke felt a heavy weight drop into her stomach and she put a hand soothingly on his cheek. So jung and already so full of concern. He and his father seemed to have a bit of a rough time and one look into those chocolate eyes were enough to let her heart melt.

She waited till he looked her in the eyes again and had calmed down a bit.

"I'm sorry, but I can't let you go back by yourself. Then I would be worried about you too."

His face fell and she hurriedly continued.

"But how about I take you back to the playground. I could make sure you're safe and maybe try to ease your fathers mind a bit. How does that sound to you?"

"That would be awesome Clarke, maybe he won't get mad if you're with me ", the enthusiasm came back to his voice and when she let him choose between a bandage with cars or dinosaurs on it, he was positively beaming (he chose the dinosaurs, because apparently they were awesome too).

She stuffed away the files, got rid of the white coat and moments later they were leaving the hospital.

"I think you better take my hand, if that's ok for you."

He hesitated for a split second but seemed to decide to trust her enough and let her take his hand. It was small, warm and slightly sandy but gripped hers surprisingly firm. They made their way to the playground in no time, he telling her all about the different dinosaurs he knew.

It was a nice day for the park which was full of people. The sun was shining and the spring made the nature colourful and lively, birdsong mixed with the happy voices that trailed over from the playing children.

When they got close, Augustus' steps became slower and his energetic ramble stopped. She squeezed his hand, promising him everything would be OK.

Clarke spotted the dad almost immediately. He sat on a bench nearby, a book loosely in his lap and his chin resting on his chest. That mass of shaggy dark curls was very distinctive, but hid the rest of his face well. Clarkes trained eyes recognized the slow and even breathing as sleep immediately.

It was a warm Aprils day, he was in a worn out black t-shirt without a jacket and she saw his tanned arms, his skin slightly darker than Augustus'. She couldn't help to appreciate how well defined his muscles were.

When they got closer she could read the back of his book and smiled, something about the Greco-Roman empire. So awesome-dad was a history nerd.

She coffed a few times, not to wake him too harshly, but when that failed Augustus stepped in unceremoniously.

"Daaad!"

"Yes, what, I'm here."

He jerked awake almost comically. His book sailing to the ground, he on his feet and eyes searching for his son.

Now Clarke saw how tall he was, more than a head taller than herself, his hair was longer than Augustus', reaching over his brows and he was almost unfairly attractive. For some reason she was surprised how jung he was, just a few years older than herself she guessed, probably in his late 20's.

When his eyes finally found the little boy, still holding Clarkes hand, she could see the confusion written all over his face. He blinked his eyes rapidly and gave them both a long look.

"Hello, are you a doctor", he asked finally with a deep voice, still kind of husky from sleeping.

She chuckled at the exact same words his son had used a few minutes ago. So they didn't just look alike.

"Yeah, hi. I'm Clarke", she began, but was interrupted by Augustus' voice. It was strong but had lost the confidence from earlier.

"I fell and Clarke fixed me. I was at the hospital down the street and I didn't want to wake you or make you worry. I'm sorry, I know I shouldn't have gone alone. Please don't be mad tata."

Augustus, still holding tightly onto Clarkes hand, looked directly at his father, while again, every word came out very fast. The man looked at Clarke for confirmation and while his eyes grew wide, she saw that they were dark and deep.

He crouched down, now on eyelevel with his son.

"Well, I'm happy you thought of my wellbeing but I'm sad that you went off alone even though you knew you weren't allowed. You are four Augustus and even down the street to the hospital is too far without me, especially without me knowing."

"Almost five", Augustus interjected, still looking guiltily at his father. But when the latter raised an eyebrow at him, the kid gave in.

"I'm sorry tata. I promise I won't go away alone again."

He looked so hopeful at his father, that after a few seconds of silence, Clarke felt the urge to interfere.

"I kind of promised Augustus that everything would be OK, so you better not make me a liar."

She tried to keep her tone lightly, not that he thought she wanted to tell him how to raise his child.

He glanced up at her from his crouching position, his hair fell into his eyes and if her knees weren't already weak then, they surely became after the corners of his mouth twitched into a small but handsome smile that made him look much junger.

"Well, we can't have this nice doctor be sad because of us, can we?" He tousled his sons hair lovingly, just like she had done. "You keep up your promise and we think of a punishment when we're home.

Now show me where you got hurt."

After a brief inspection of the dinosaur bandage, the father finally raised himself into a standing position again.

He eyed her now more curiously, just like his son had in the hospital and stretched out his hand. His intense look made her blush without really knowing why and she suddenly wished she could stop grinning like an idiot.

"I forgot to introduce myself, doctor... Clarke. I'm Bellamy Blake."

"It's Doctor Clarke Griffin actually. But call me just Clarke, please."

She tried to shake his hand, but she was still holding Augustus', who seemed unwilling to let got, so she shook Bellamys weirdly with her left. They both laught awkwardly.

"Thank you very much for patching him up and escorting him back here. I hope you won't get into trouble with being absent from work. What do I owe you for the treatment?"

"Don't be ridiculous", she laughed again.

"You owe me nothing and my shift had already ended, so no harm done. I was happy to help and that I've met such a lovely und well behaved kid."

She winked down at Augustus and he looked back at her with something like awe in his eyes.

"You clearly formed some sort of bond over this gruesome accident", he nodded towards their still interlocked hands with something like surprise in his voice.

"Why don't you let that nice lady go and we head home where I can sleep a little more at ease?"

She could clearly hear the teasing in his words and the boy took his fathers outstretched hand willingly, smiling a bright smile, knowing that his father wasn't that angry.

She bend down and ruffled his hair again.

"It was very nice to meet you Augustus. Listen to your father, alright?"

Clarke handed Bellamy a second dinosaur bandage with the instruction to change it in the morning and earned another handsome smirk from him.

She smiled one last time at the two of them, turned and walked slowly back in the direction of the hospital. Near the bend in the path she turned around, just able to see them. They stood where she had left them, man and boy, holding hands and so much alike with their dark curls and honest smiles. When she raised her hand in a small wave, they both raised their free ones in an identical movement.

It was almost too adorable.

While Clarke headed on, she pressed her palms against her hot face, trying to remember when had been the last time her cheeks hurt from too much smiling.

Bellamy finally put the book down beside the bed after reading it three times tonight. 'Dinokru: schooltrip to the volcanoes' was still Gus' favorite bedtime story.

The kid was tired after this eventful day, especially with the punishment-gardenwork before dinner. It was his luck their garden was only slightly larger than the average stamp.

Bellamys own eyes were tired too. His little nap in the park hadn't been enough to keep away the stress that came with being the single father of a little troublemaker, having two jobs, an essay shamefully overdue (again) and a house that needed a tidying hand every fucking day.

When he tucked his son in and caressed that familiar face, he noticed the uncommonly pensive look on his four year old.

"Everything alright Gus?"

The boy hesitated, then glanced up at his father.

"She was very pretty wasn't she?"

"Who was?"

"Clarke."

Bellamy was caught by surprise with his sons words. Usually, he wasn't very fond of strangers, especially women.

Well he didn't really knew any except his aunt (and nobody knew better than Bellamy that his sister was a little crazy).

He scratched the back of his head, just for something to do, but his son seemed to expect an answer.

Bellamy remembered the moments after he woke up in the park. Augustus holding the hand of an unknown woman dressed in hospital wear. He had been somewhat alarmed for a second, but his son was evidently in good health. The first glance at her told him that she had pretty blond hair and that the blue scrubs hugged her body in exactly the right places. After he made sure Gus was ok, he had taken his time to look at her. His first impression had been confirmed, she was fucking hot, but it were her eyes that drew him in. Blue and bright and they twinkled along with the smile she obviously couldn't drop.

Remaining a little taken aback at how his son was clinging to her hand, he felt a rush of warmth at how she talked with and about his Gus. She was nice but firm in her words and when an adorable flush painted her pale cheeks in pink, it was all he could do not to openly stare at her.

Maybe he still had been a little sleepy, for it was only after she was gone that he fully processed what had happend and felt suddenly sorry to see her gone. He ought to have thanked her better, maybe invited her out to a coffee. Or his bed. Shit, his imagination was running away from him again.

Bellamy became aware that his son was still waiting for him to speak so he pulled himself out of his thoughts about the charming doctor.

"Yeah, I guess she was rather beautiful. Nice blond hair and stuff", he tried to say nonchalantly.

The boy nodded in agreement.

"I think she looked a bit like a princess. But not one in a stupid dress, more like a badass princess that has her own dinosaur army."

Bellamy let out a barking laugh.

"A dinosaur army? Wait, since when do you know a word like badass?"

He recognized Gus' mubled 'ontavia' as 'aunt Octavia' and he wasn't even surprised. He was always on the watch to only swear in his head when his son was in earshot, but Octavia never cared about stuff like that.

Thinking about it, the nickname princess seemed to fit Clarke, all while it was easier to imagine her in a beautiful dress than with a dino army. But well, he wasn't four anymore.

"She was very cool and nice and her hands were really soft you know? I like yours too dad. They are good for baseball and to make Pancakes but hers were so soft, it was nice when she touched my hair."

His hand stopped midair on its way to tousle the boys curls and Bellamy laughed again.

"Well in that case I try not to be too sad that you like hers a little more than mine. Now you better sleep and dream about your dinosaur with a princess army. Sleep tight."

He kissed his son on the forehead and put out the light on the nightstand.

"You too tata. And it's a princess with a dinosaur army", Gus corrected him, but his voice was already heavy with sleep.

"Whatever you say buddy."

Smiling he walked down the stairs, his mind still on those soft hands, pushing away the thoughts about everything he still had to do tonight. The dishes and that damned letter to the university were pretty low on his 'want to do list', so with just a tiny bit of bad conscience, he decided to call his badass sister instead.

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 **A/N:** Thanks for reading and please consider to leave a review.


	2. We kind of started to call you princess

**A/N** : The small town Phoenix is meant as a reference to the station on the ark and not as the existing town Phoenix.

Disclaimer: I don't own anything from the 100.

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Her shift at the hospital had been stressful, as usual and Clarke was still kind of hiding in a supply closet even though she could have gone home for some time now. She could manage the pressure, noise and blood that came with the work reasonably well, but when her mother showed up earlier, Clarke had followed her instinct to run. Sure, she loved her mother, but Abby was quite the hand full (people kept saying that Clarke got her bossy attitude from her mom) and Clarke just didn't want do deal with her in that instant.

Her thoughts were still full of the upcoming charity event for _Another Chance_ and of course the past days encounter with the cute Augustus and his engaging father. The last thing she needed today was her mother pushing her career and asking her why she kept smiling as stupidly as she was.

When the door opened, Clarke busied herself with rummaging through the shelves, keeping her head down.

A gangly looking guy, dressed in the dark red volunteers uniform, peered into the room.

"Dang it, Jasper. You nearly gave me heartfailure! I thought my mother finally sniffed me out", she half yelled, half whispered.

The young man stepped in, grining at Clarke as broadly as usual.

"I saw her earlier, bossing everyone around, looking for you in stupid locations like the locker room and the ER. She interrogated me for nearly ten minutes before she found her next victim, poor Jackson."

Clarke patted him on the shoulder in a consoling sort of manner.

"I owe you a shitty cafeteria coffee or something, your choice."

Now that she didn't need to hide anymore, her mood lifted again. Arm in arm they left the storage room and walked down the corridor.

"For throwing myself between you and the chancellor? No way you get out this cheap, mom. I say you're not allowed to say no to the next game night at the 100. Monty and I are planning something huge this time. You missed out the last three and that's just unacceptable!"

"Fair enough. Just say the word and I'll make sure to be there.

It's been too long since I was at your shop anyway. I began to wonder if you two were to drug me and drag my unconscious body over there."

They both laughed at the idea, but when Clarke glanced at her friend, she didn't like the look on his face. Normally, she knew better than to give him such ideas.

She was just about to make sure he wasn't thinking about actually doing this to her, when someone collided with her front. If it hadn't been for Jaspers arm around her shoulders, she would have landed face first on the floor.

"Hi Clarke", came a muffled voice from below, a small hand gripping the one that wasn't holding onto Jas. Then hurried footsteps rounded the corner and none other than handsome awesome-dad Bellamy Blake came to a halt in front of them.

"Hi Clarke", his voice was a little breathless and the husky note from yesterday seemed not to have come from sleep. He looked at her curiously again and she fought against blushing stupidly.

"Hi Augustus, hi Bellamy. What are you two doing in the hospital? Are you hurt?"

Bellamy shook his head and his loose curls fell onto his brows again. He looked slightly uncomfortable, almost shy and was obviously looking for words. The small boy disentangled himself from Clarke, though still clutching her hand and spoke first.

"I came for my checkup", he said confidently.

His father was fighting and to Clarkes delight loosing, not to smile and when she discovered a small dimple in his right cheek, she was once again thankful for the steadying arm around her.

"Well, I felt rather stupid after our encounter yesterday. Gus and I thought we could do better at expressing out gratitude, so we tried to come up with an excuse to come here again."

He grinned at her apologetically. "Unfortunately, the Blakeman are not known to be very imaginative, so we thought to make up something on the go. A mistake, obviously."

His laugh was catching and looking down, she saw Augustus nodding alongside his fathers words. They couldn't have acted more adorable if they had rehearsed this scene.

The two Blakeman looked at Clarke and she looked back, the three oblivious to their surroundings until someone to Clarkes right made a noise between coffing and giggling. The three pairs of eyes snapped over to Jasper.

"Don't mind me guys. I'm just going to make myself more invisible than I am already. See ya."

He leaned in so Clarke could give him a kiss on the forehead and wandered down the hallway giggling.

"Who was that", Augustus asked, eying Jaspers back suspiciously.

"That's Jasper Jordan. A guy that hasn't quite the manners you have Augustus."

That seemed to soothe the kid and he smiled at Clarke again.

"Call me Gus Clarke. All my friends call me Gus."

"I am honored Gus, thank you", she said squeezing his hand. She looked at Bellamy who was staring at their hands again.

"So how about you buy me a coffee at the cafeteria and if we survive the food poisoning we'll be even?"

"Sounds good prin... Clarke."

They made their way to the cafeteria and Clarke raised an eyebrow at him. He smirked again.

"We kind of started to call you princess, it was Gus' idea."

"Because you look like one. But with a dinosaur army remember", interjected Augustus.

"Of course. I'm still working on that, it might take me some time though."

The thought that they had obviously talked about her, made Clarke feel something she couldn't quite put her finger on. But it felt warm and good.

"As long as you give me a few lessons about dinosaurs, I will be ok Gus. Don't want to embarrass myself in front of my army."

For the rest of the walk, Augustus resumed his lecture about dinosaurs from yesterday. Bellamy and Clarke were stealing glances and smiles at each other.

When they sat down, the boy became distracted with their drinks and snacks and seized talking.

"I'm sorry we came here unannounced like this. Surely this must seem a bit weird to you."

Clarke stopped watching Gus and looked into Bellamys dark eyes, getting lost in them for a few moments.

"No, I'm glad you came. It was very nice meeting you two yesterday. I'm in the hospital so much, sometimes I think I don't know how people interact normally anymore."

"It's just singular for him to be so enraptured with a stranger. A women no less.

No offense, but he is usually not very trusting and I've never seen him holding hands with someone like this. It made me really curious about you, to be honest."

Clarke looked at the small hand in hers and felt honored.

"Well, I can't deny that I'm a little in love with him myself", she confessed and was surprised how much she felt these words.

"He is a great kid and you better be proud of your parenting skills."

Now it was at Bellamy to blush. It colored his olive skin in a coppery tone and Clarke noticed for the first time the handfull freckles that were plastered across his nose and cheeks.

Damn, he was so painfully handsome at this moment that she suddenly longed to dig out her old sketchbook to bring him alive on paper.

He coffed humbly and continued to grin at her.

"Ok princeps, life trivia as short as possible."

She thought for a second before answering him.

"Only child to Abby Griffin, former doctor, now chancellor of the medicinal directorate of Arcadia and Jake Griffin, former head of aerospace engineering at Mountain Man Corp. He died when I was 17, right before me graduading high school. Born and raised just up the road in Phoenix, in Arcadia since college. I'm now 26 and in my second year to become an ER surgeon. I enjoy my work because I love to help others and in my unlikely freetime I like to work with my hands and make sure my friends won't get into too much trouble. Though I seriously need to work on the last part."

She looked at him expectantly and after a moment of hesitation he began, "born and raised in Arcadia. My father left when I was three, my mother Aurora was a seamstress. I always loved history, especially the Greco-Roman times but couldn't really pursue a career in that field because my mom died when I was close to 18 and I looked after my 13 year old sister Octavia. Just after she became independent, Gus was born. My wife Gina died in an accident when Gus was 7 months old and since then he is pretty much my life. With that and my two jobs, I have no free time, not even unlikely."

He patted his sons head lovingly, the kid uninterested in the adults conversation.

"Yeah, I get that. Im my case, I have some sort of control over how much workload I have, but a child is nothing you get sickleave from.

Octavia is a really beautiful name, like Augustus. Did you choose that one too?"

"Yes, I did. Even back then I loved the stories about greek gods and roman rulers. Actually, Augustus was the first roman emperor in 31 ad and Octavia had been a widely admired sister of him."

She beamed at this little outbreak of his nerdy side and was relieved that he couldn't drop his smile either.

"So you're basically a history nerd with a knack for naming stuff, or to put it better, people. What do you want to do with this passion? You said you hadn't really the time yo study in that field."

He nodded and went on, "I got together a few semesters at the the local community college, Polis U, before Gus was born. I always did some courses while earning money for O's education and a year ago I restarted it. I don't have much time between Gus and my jobs, but when I'm finished I hope to become a teacher for history and Latin. Even though that will be in another ten years or so."

He didn't seemed bitter about the fact that he had to put himself last again and again. On the contrary, the talking about his sister, his son and his passion made his eyes grow soft and Clarke couldn't help but admire how strong a person he was.

She wasn't the type to plunge early into feelings or romanticize people, but if Bellamy Blake didn't reveal some serious character flaws in the next minutes, she was in deep, deep trouble.

"So, uh. This Jasper, is he your boyfriend or something like that? You two seemed pretty close."

She just happend to have watched Augustus, who made a face at the word boyfriend and therefore missed Bellamys slightly nervous fidgeting.

"Yeah, we are. Pretty close I mean", she almost laughed, finally looking up at him again.

"I've known him for a little more than four years now and he is a mix of very good friend, little brother and something like a son. A 25 year old son that likes to get into trouble and blows stuff up", she mouthed the last words as to not give Augustus any ideas. She wouldn't do that mistake twice in one day.

"My dad hasn't a girlfriend, too. In like forever", Augustus suddenly blurted out. The adults both laughed at his words.

"Thanks buddy, good you pointed that out", Bellamy said while shaking his head in slight disbelief.

"No problem tata", he answered seriously.

Clarke couldn't stop her chuckling and after rubing his neck in an embarrassed sort of way, Bellamy smiled at her sheepishly.

"We still need to work on the whole concept of sarcasm. Or maybe better not. I'm not sure about that."

To be continued.

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 **A/N** : So far, the reviews were quite encouraging, thanks for that (and yes, it was supposed to be 'young ', that's what you get from editing on the phone, stupid german autocorrect).

I hope you enjoyed this chapter and please consider to leave a review.


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